Talking regarding how colleagues come to our country to consult in regions where there are no doctors available is a very extensive topic, beginning with what the President calls: Non-intervention. But let’s see.
In Mexico, the social service of medicine is an essential requirement to obtain the title of Medical Surgeon. The historical precedent that marked its beginning occurred in 1936, when the heads of the Department of Public Health and the National School of Medicine signed an agreement to provide medical assistance to the inhabitants of marginalized rural localities.
Currently, following approximately eight decades and in accordance with the current Regulatory Law, all medical students, who do not have any serious illness that prevents them, must perform social service, with care and academic activities under research and proper supervision.
The sociodemographic and political conditions that existed in Mexico approximately 80 years ago are far from the social and economic context of the 21st century. It is important to remember that societies are not static; from 1936 to date there are historical facts in the country that are reflected in the organization, in the social and economic relations that the inhabitants of rural and urban areas establish with the institutions.
The health system is not static either, it has been evolving and adapting according to the needs and implemented policies such as the decentralization of services (Ministry of Health, 1996), the reforms of social security institutions as a labor right, the System of Social Protection in Health (Ministry of Health, 2003) and the recently created Insabi (2021).
Unlike the initial requirement of carrying out social service in marginalized rural areas, students can choose other options to practice it, such as research centers, the University itself, or urban and suburban health clinics, in addition to rural ones. It is worth mentioning that the location of the interns in locations with difficult geographical access reduces the possibilities of advice, evaluation and supervision by the educational institution and the receiving institution.
Medical interns are currently the “cheap workforce” of the health subsystems since they have a scholarship of around five thousand pesos per month. So far we are doing well… if we were in 1936, but this is already 2022 and the Government in turn has to understand it. They told us that Cuban doctors would come to remote communities where Mexican doctors don’t want to go, but didn’t they ask why? The wave of insecurity that is sweeping the country should not be a secret, the living conditions to which you will be exposed are questionable and the salary compared to the inflation rate is completely ridiculous. In addition to the administration and reengineering of services, that is, what use is a neurosurgeon to me in a rural community? Exactly, you’re welcome. If there are no supply conditions, infrastructure for the correct performance of health personnel functions, an “unarmed personnel” will be of no use.
The conditions in the country force us to reconsider the existence of social service as “mandatory” and it is not necessary to revile Mexican doctors for demanding better conditions for the exercise of their profession. We all want better living conditions for you. Where would you like to live and why?
The case of Cuban medical colleagues is curious, a salary of more than 146 thousand pesos a month, security and assistance. They don’t ask for homologation of title and ID to practice (like the Mexicans) They are not medical specialists or postgraduates. But they are used to working with nothing, I mean, in that they do seem like the doctors in training that our country has, right?
